Hebrew word · H562

אֹמֶר

'omer

word

A poetic noun from ʾāmar, 'to say': 'word, utterance, saying, command'. It is rare (Job 22:28; Psalm 68:11 [Heb 12]; 77:8 [Heb 9]; Proverbs 22:21; Habakkuk 3:9). It is the high-style counterpart of the ordinary word dāḇār.

Appears 6 times in 6 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

utterance, speech, word, saying, promise, command

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 19:2

Range of meaning

A poetic noun from ʾāmar, 'to say': 'word, utterance, saying, command'. It is rare (Job 22:28; Psalm 68:11 [Heb 12]; 77:8 [Heb 9]; Proverbs 22:21; Habakkuk 3:9). It is the high-style counterpart of the ordinary word dāḇār.

Against the English

'Speech' is a fair rendering. English cannot easily show that the same rare word comes back immediately in verse 3 ('there is no ʾōmer'), which is the point of the wordplay.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates it rhēma, 'spoken word'. Verse 4 of the psalm (Heb v. 5) moves on to 'their words' (millêhem, another poetic term), which helps build the psalm's vocabulary of speaking.

From the study of Job 22:28

Range of meaning

A rare, poetic word for 'word, saying, speech' (Psalm 19:2-3; Job 20:29, 'heritage decreed by God'; Proverbs 22:21), and by extension 'thing, matter, plan'. It belongs to the same family as the ordinary verb 'amar, 'to say'.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say 'a thing'. YLT says 'a saying'. NIV and BSB drop the word into 'what you decide' or 'your decisions'. YLT's 'saying' is the most literal and the most open to being misread as 'a spoken declaration'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Job uses this cluster of poetic words for 'speech' heavily. 'omer appears in Job 20:29 for what God has 'appointed' or 'said' about the wicked person's portion, so it can mean a settled matter rather than just sounds.

From the study of Psalm 19:3

Range of meaning

A rare poetic noun from the common verb ʾāmar, 'to say'. It means 'saying, utterance, speech, word', the content of what is said. It turns up mostly in poetry and wisdom writing (e.g. Job 22:28; Ps 68:11; 77:8; Prov 2:1).

Against the English

'Speech' (KJV, BSB, NASB, WEB, YLT) is accurate. NIV-style 'they have no speech' moves the line toward 'they lack the ability to speak', but the Hebrew simply says no speech exists.

Used elsewhere in the period

Within this psalm the word appears twice in a row: verse 2 says 'day to day pours forth ʾōmer', and verse 3 says 'there is no ʾōmer'. Repeating a rare word this way is a deliberate poetic device. The Septuagint renders it with lalia, 'talk, speech'.

Where it appears

Job · 1

  1. Job 22:28 א֭וֹמֶר a matter

    Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.

    Here: A poetic word for 'word' or 'thing said', and by extension 'a matter' or 'a plan'. Here it is what you decide on, the thing you resolve to do. It is not a magic formula.

Psalms · 4

  1. Psalm 19:2 אֹ֑מֶר speech

    Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.

    Here: A rare poetic word for spoken words. The next verse picks it up again ('there is no ʾōmer'), so the poet sets up a deliberate tension: it is speech, yet speech without words.

  2. Psalm 19:3 אֹ֭מֶר [is] speech

    Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard,

    Here: A poetic word for something said. It is the same word verse 2 used ('day to day pours forth speech'), so the psalmist denies, in so many words, the very speech he has just described. That is the paradox the line turns on.

  3. Psalm 68:11 אֹ֑מֶר a word

    The Lord gives the command; a great company of women proclaim it:

    Here: A rare, poetic word for something spoken. Here it is God's decisive word: the battle order or the announcement of victory, which the women then spread.

  4. Psalm 77:8 אֹ֝֗מֶר a word

    Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time?

Habakkuk · 1

  1. Habakkuk 3:9 אֹ֣מֶר a word

    You brandished Your bow; You called for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.